"High" chance Liverpool force club into £52 million January sale

Liverpool are highly likely to trigger the €60 million (£52m) clause in Goncalo Inacio's Sporting Lisbon contract in the January transfer window.

An exclusive from Team Talk suggests the Reds will make their move to finally sign Inacio after reportedly scouting him for "over two years" as Jurgen Klopp looks for a new partner for Virgil van Dijk at the heart of the Liverpool defence.

The only issue with Inacio playing alongside van Dijk is the Portuguese 22-year-old has been playing on the left side of a back three for Sporting which may make it difficult for him to adjust to a right-sided in the Premier League.

The report claims that in order for Sporting to let Inacio go, Liverpool will have to force them into a sale by triggering his release clause otherwise he will not be allowed to leave mid-season.

This is, of course, very understandable as Sporting are in a title race with Benfica and will probably make it to the knockout stages of the Europa League so losing Inacio would cripple their silverware aspirations.

Signing a centre-back isn't exactly a high priority for Liverpool at the moment as adding a defensive midfielder to replace Fabinho is far more important.

But if signing Inacio in the January transfer window means beating the competition to his signature, then it would be a very clever move.

A report from Spain this week also reported that Liverpool are willing to pay the €60 million (£52m) required to break Inacio's contract with Sporting.